


AO3 Census: Pre-Analysis

by centreoftheselights



Series: AO3 Census 2013 [2]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: AO3 Statistics, Archived From Tumblr, Archived From centrumlumina Tumblr, Fan Studies, Fandom Statistics, Nonfiction, Research, acafandom, survey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-09-30
Packaged: 2019-09-18 04:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16988118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: This is part of the AO3 Census project, a survey that asked over 10,000 AO3 users about their demographics and habits.An introduction to the project, including some strengths and weaknesses.





	1. Limitations and Uses of the Data

While a lot of people are very excited about this survey, it’s important to understand that this way of looking at things has a lot of limitations. This post outlines what it is and isn’t sensible to say about this data.

**Limitations**

Although the survey only required respondents to be users of AO3, many people expressed confusion over whether or not those without accounts were included in this definition - they were, but some may have assumed the survey was not relevant to them, leading to that group being underrepresented. Similarly, those who use the site infrequently are more likely to have excluded themselves.

While Tumblr use was not a listed factor in participation, the fact that almost all advertising for the survey took place there means that the vast majority of respondents are probably Tumblr users. In terms of access, there was also a major self-selection bias - only those willing to fill out the survey can be included, which may over-represent certain groups with a greater interest in these kinds of statistics.

When it comes to a group as broad and unstructured as fandom, it is impossible to draw up a full list of the population in order to select a random sample. The viral spread of this survey through social networks - mainly via Tumblr reblogs - means that this data cannot be assumed to be representative of any larger population. It is impossible to know which groups may have been over-represented because the survey was spread more rapidly among groups of friends with a certain demographic.

All of this means that **the survey data cannot be used to draw definitive conclusions about fandom in general** , or even the AO3/Tumblr users it focuses on.

**Uses**

However, these limitations do not make the survey useless.

Most knowledge of fandom demographics is currently based on anecdotal evidence; while this dataset is not necessarily representative, the huge number of respondents - 10,005 in total - means that every 1% value from this survey corresponds to over 100 people. In places where the statistics disagree with the received wisdom, this offers a considerable volume of counter-claims.

If results from this survey are surprising or otherwise significant, then they **should not be immediately dismissed as irrelevant**. Although sampling bias is one possible explanation for unusual results in this dataset, using this reasoning to shut down all other possible explanations is counter-productive to discussion. Challenging results should be given due consideration, especially when the alternate hypothesis is equally (or more) lacking in supporting evidence.

However, it is also important to remember that any unexpected results **need further research to verify them** before they can be established as a widespread phenomenon. There will be more discussion of areas for possible future research later in the analysis.


	2. Sample Size

The total number of respondents to the survey was 10,005.

At the end of the survey time period, AO3 had 212,125 registered accounts. While many of these will be inactive, the survey was also open to those who used the site without an account; thus, it seems reasonable to assume that the total number of those eligible to participate was of the order of magnitude of 200,000 people.

The respondents to this survey therefore represent a considerable fraction of AO3 users - somewhere in the region of 5%.

The following graph shows how the number of reponses varied with day. This survey was open to responses from 24th-30th September 2013, starting and ending at 10:30pm BST.


End file.
